back to business: the resilient shops in boston's back bay refusing to let tragedy rule the day. in today's cover story, as the investigation into the bombings continues, a look at the economic effect of the tragedy. plus, a system failure grounds american airlines' entire fleet. and, if you've missed the rally in homebuilding stocks, why you may have another chance to get in the game. first business starts now. you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning. it's wednesday, april 17th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: a rebound from a bad day. the dow, nasdaq and s&p all marched higher tuesday in the wake of a deep sell-off yesterday. gold added shine with a 26-dollar

gain, while inched up 7 cents. in earninings after hours, intel posted a 26% drop in earnings but came in line with expectations. that stock rallied. yahoo, however, fell 4% after heavy trading. one analyst called the tech company's ad revenue a "disaster." stocks and commodities bounced back yesterday. larry shover of sfg alternatives joins us now for a closer look at the trading day. good morning to you, larry. - good morning. - what do you attribute to yesterday's rally, especially in gold? - i think it was just a knee- jerk reaction, oversold condition. i think people were realizing that hey, maybe the central banks won't be selling their gold reserves any time soon, and maybe the inflationary concerns, or disinflationary concerns, aren't as big as people first thought they were.

- there was a major earthquake this week and iran, and the oil market did not move. does that surprise you? - after the fact doesn't surprise me. during the fact it certainly did. but when we look at what happened in the commodities sector in general, everything was just deflating at once, combined with the fact that, in oil, there are huge supplies right now and there's log-jam with that. it probably insulated the market just a little bit. - what are you keying in on as far as earnings? - i looked at yesterday, we had intel come out, and it did not beat on the revenues side, and that usually worries wall street, and after-hours the stock actually rallied. it just gave me some comfort that perhaps, maybe we are growing, and even though the pc side is light, perhaps moving into the ultrabook sector is really good for them and rally on a 4% yield. - today we are awaiting numbers from bank of america. any expectations? - i think they are going to beat on both ends, but i think that is the case for most banks, because i think they have been dialed down so low. however, it is going to have to be an enormous feat for the stock to rally just given the expectations people have. - thank you, larry. - thank you.

in our cover story, there is no price on the human cost of monday's bombing at the boston marathon. it is far greater than whatever economic impact may follow. yet in our post 9/11 country, there is the linkage between acts of terror and its cost. the damage may never fully be quantified. human cost is the most expensive of all and often compounded by time. "this was a heinous and cowardly act. the fbi is investigating this as an act of terrorism. i have directed officials to take extra precautions to protect americans." when acts of terrorism happen, there is also an economic pull- back. "any kind of event causes the market to have a reaction." after 9/11, the dow dropped 1400 points and took two months to recover. in 2005, bombings in london killed 52 people and injured 700 others, and stocks there dropped 200 points, but recovered quickly. financial analysts point out that though the boston bombing led the market to spike downward 265 points monday, the market was already weakened by weaker growth forecasts around the world.

"typically, markets dislike uncertainty, and that's why the market sold off heavily." but to many, the market's rebound tuesday indicates that investor nervousness has not taken hold, despite the country's tenuous economic recovery. "i think a single event has some impact, but a string of them would make people nervous." "it seems domestic is more concerned with jobs report and purchasing." as an asset manager in pennysyvania put it, "we hope and pray that boston is a singular event and that's all there is going to be." however temporary the market dip, heightened awareness has taken hold. the central terminal at new york's laguardia

airport was evacuated tuesday after a suspicious package was found. the faa also issued a temporary ground stop which kept planes from taking off for 45 minutes. businesses in boston will attempt to return to normal today. some of the hardest-hit areas in the back bay closed tuesday as investigators combed for evidence following the deadly blast monday during the boston marathon. deluca's market closed briefly for a police search, then quickly re- opened. a deluca's manager tells us tuesday it was the only grocery store in the area available to residents. the manager says business at deluca's is brisk. turning to earnings from the financial sector, bank of america and american express report today. analysts predict bac brought in $23 billion in

revenues in the first quarter. the bank suffered two previous quarters of heavy losses from legal settlements tied to the financial crisis. american express is reeling from 4500 job cuts as it tightens up. it's estimated that the nation's top credit card company earned $8 billion. yesterday, goldman sach's $2.2-billion profit topped wall street's forecast. regulators could be closer to putting the clamps on jp morgan because of its dealings with ponzie schemer bernie madoff. madoff is serving a 150-year prison term for costing investors millions of dollars in a massive money scheme. the office of the comptroller of the currency could issue a cease-and-desist order later this year against the bank. a trustee for madoff's victims accuses jp morgan chase of turning a blind eye to signs madoff was a fraud. "people are going after banks right now because they have a history of looking the other way. there's another case recently filed and pending in florida involving scott rothstien, who conducted one of

these ponzi schemes, and his banks were successfully sued." that was attorney hugh totten of valorem law group. jp morgan served as madoff's main bank for two decades. bank officials contend there was no evidence of a scheme. the european parliament has voted in favor of reforms to its banking sector. this week members of the e.u. appoved changes, including a controversial bonus cap designed to discourage risk- taking for short-term gain. the new limits will reign in banker bonuses, capping them to one year's salary or double that if a majority of a bank's shareholders give their approval. banks will also now be expected to build up an appropriate amount of capital to avert future taxpayer bailouts. sac capital agrees to pay a record fine to settle an insider trading probe. the $616- million punishment imposed by the sec dwarfs the second- largest-ever fine imposed, $157 million levied against raj rajaratnam in 2011. sac allegedly traded on information before it was made public. sac was not required to admit guilt as part of the fine, saying, "the settling parties neither admit nor deny the charges."

american airlines is recovering from a computer outage that forced it to ground its entire fleet. american apologized for widespread outage in its reservations system yesterday afternoon. the electronic glitch caused nationwide flight delays for more than four hours before the issue was fixed. meanwhile, american's parent company, amr, is inching closer to its merger with u.s. airways. this week, amr filed formal plans to exit bankruptcy. they have been submitted to creditors for approval. a dell committee has a deal with billionaire investor carl icahn: icahn agrees to aquire no more than 10% of dell's shares; in return, he gets the right to communicate with other dell shareholders and, according to him, still conduct a proxy fight. dell's board is attempting to protect the company. icahn and blackstone group have expressed interest in the computer company following founder michael dell's bid to take it private.

twitter is giving advertisers something to tweet about. the site is reportedly in talks with media giant viacom, nbc and comcast to add high quality video content and ads to its site. the streaming content would help twitter get users to stay on the site longer. meanwhile, bloomberg is also reporting that twitter is planning a push into the music biz, with an app that lets users stream and share music. it could be big competition for pandora. a "food fraud" scandal is discovered in europe. after 4,000 tests on beef, the european commission found 5% tainted with horse meat. the commission says there's no immediate danger to consumers, but it could be costly to the eurozone economy, and tighter measures are planned. france, greece and denmark had the highest amounts of horse meat in beef. devry, inc., which operates private colleges and training schools, is being investigated

by officials in two states. the attornies general of both illinois and massachusetts are investigating. illinois is looking into incentive-based compensation, illegal under laws governing schools participating in federal aid programs. massachusetts wants to know if devry filed false information about its students. devry says it is cooperating with the investigations. general motors edges out volkswagen in first quarter sales as both try to catch up to toyota. gm sold 2.36 million cars and trucks around the world in the first three months of 2013. volkswagen sold 2.27 million vehicles during that same time. toyota was in the lead with most cars sold in 2012. rising maintenance costs are making owning a car more expensive. aaa says car expenses are up 2% from last year. the average sedan now requires investment of about $9,000 a year, or 61 cents a mile. higher maintenance fees were the primary reason. the study also looked at fuel, insurance and tire costs.

the rally during the last 6 months is still not convincing average investors to dabble in the stock market. in its earnings report, td ameritrade says while profits rose 5%, trading volumes fell 2.4% from a year ago. the online brokerage tells reporters the firm even missed its own expectations as many retail investors remain on the sidelines depsite record highs in the market. still to come, small business solutions: advice for applying for capital when money is tight. that's later with bill moller. but first, charity scams are exploding in the wake of the boston marathon terror attacks. what to know before giving your money. that's next.

charties may feel the effects of the terror tragedy in boston. lisa dietlin of dietlin and associates is back with us to talk about marathons and charity money. welcome back to the show. - glad to be here. - do you suppose there are charities out there right now that are scrambling because of what happened in boston, they are fearful perhaps that runners might back down, might not show up in the waves that we have seen in the past? - i do think charities are thinking about that. we have our own chicago marathon coming up in the fall, angela, and i

do think that charities are putting plans of action in place, primarily through communication. - all right. and what do you do if you are an organization and you are concerned? what kind of communication do you want to send out? - i think, first of all, you need to communicate to your runners that you are still in the game, that you are still going to be participating in the marathon as a charity, either as a sponsored charity, a selected charity, or that you are still raising funds. number two, you have to tell them the steps that are being taken to make sure that they will be safe. right now we don't know a lot. we are in the wake, we are in the first 24, 48 hours. but, there will be more communication coming about safety measures being taken. - one of the most disturbing elements to come out of the boston tragedy, phony charities already popping up within minutes that it happened. - yes, we have seen this since we started giving online, and the fbi has documented it, be it hurricane katrina or some of the subsequent disasters. i think you have to be a smart donor. just because something pops up in your facebook feed or

in your twitter account or your e-mail account doesn't mean it is legitimate. really pay attention to the url. does it have a number one in it that shouldn't be there, or weird under-spacing or underscoring? pick up the phone to verify. call the non-profit and say, "are you raising money? is this legitimate?" and if you are forwarding something, take that extra step to make sure that it is legitimate. your friends are trusting you that you vetted it. and make sure that whatever you are forwarding is legitimate. - after raising millions of dollars through these marathons, it would be sad to see even the slightest dip in charity money. - it absolutely would be sad to see that, and marathons have come a long way. you know, the boston marathon in the last 25 years has raised $127 million. there are 35 charities this year anticipating raising $11 million. that is a lot of good that is going to be done with those funds. - and it shows you the big hearts of those runners. thanks for being on the show today, lisa. - i am happy to be here. - first business news continues right after this.

you run a small business - your books look sound, you're ready to grow, hire, expand. but you can't convince a bank to give you a loan. in december, big banks approved only 15% of the loans small business applied for. maybe you're going about it the wrong way. maybe you need to think about it a little more expansively. let's talk with marc gorlin. he is the co- founder of kabbage, and you advance money, give cash to companies so they can get up and going. let me ask you about these things that they need to do. one of the points you make, very importantly, is don't mix

your personal and professional accounts. - there are many reasons for that. one is you just want to separate out for taxes, for keeping your books straight, and to prove that you are really running a business by keeping it separated. the other is there is a dirty secret around personal credit and business credit. - so using your credit card to pay your business expenses. - and a lot of companies have to do it. it's very natural that you'd want to do that. but every time you max out your credit cards over the holiday season to get inventory, you are lowering your personal credit score, and that is making it harder for you to get business credit in the future. so it is important, as soon as you can, to separate those out. - you make the point of, you need to beg and borrow. what do you mean by that? - sometimes you need to beg and borrow. everybody knows, you might need to go to your uncle or someone in your family to help you start your business. but it is important to document when you do that, so you can invite them back to thanksgiving dinner. know if they are buying a part of your company, know your plan to repay them. know if it is just debt and you are going to repay it over time. it is just important to write all that stuff down.

but that's ok. a lot of companies have to start that way. - have sort of loose contracts so they can seem serious about it. here is an idea: barter. i had never thought that that might be a practical alternative. - bartering is interesting. we actually- we are still a small company, and when we first started out, we bartered with folks to get services. so, imagine you are an i.t. shop, for example, and you need some marketing help. maybe there's a marketing shop that needs to get their computers set up. go and offer your services in small doses to other places to get the things you need, and then you don't have to pay for it. and that is money you don't have to raise or come out of pocket for. - know your numbers, you say. - absolutely. you have got to know your numbers. too many businesses don't know their numbers. there are two words, apr and roi: annual percentage rate, that is what you might effectively use on your credit card when you are buying something. are roi is return on investment. so suppose i ran out of gas, and you, being the kind gentleman that you are, decide to lend me 20 bucks to

fill up that gas tank. and i thank you for that a week later by giving you your $20 back and paying you back with a beer that costs $4. now, you would think that would be reasonable, wouldn't it? - but the apr is- - the apr is 1040%. it is not the right way to look at it. we have got a customer that took out $8,000, turned it into $90,000, bobby abbot of searchlight's comics and toys, and started a whole toy business because he could get a return on investment of 1025%. - and discouraging as that process might be, you say be persistent is the last point. marc gorlin from kabbage. thank you so much. good to know. still ahead, why this week's swift sell-off in the stock market is making room for another shot at home builder stocks. chart talk is next.

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a public service from the obesity action coalition. if you missed the rally in the housing sector the first time around, you may have a second chance. joining us now is tim biggam with tradingblock. good morning tim, and you're watching the housing stocks. which stocks in particular would you want to buy? - looking at a name like toll

brothers, which has come off about 15% over the last month or so - it was trading up in the mid $30s, now down around the $30 level - certainly this stock got a little ahead of itself in my opinion. but, on a 15% drop, i kind of like the valuation here, and the fact that interest rates have headed lower certainly after the big sell-off we saw in the market recently. and the input costs, more importantly, are headed a lot lower. the commodities space has really been hit hard, some of the inputs like copper trading at multi-year lows, lumber has come down sharply. so, the margins on some of the home-builders like toll or, looking broadly, the xhb, which is an etf for the home-builders, i kind of like going forward here. i think it is now at a level that it can grind higher. not looking for fireworks, but probably a relative out- performer to the market. - and you mention commodities. what would be your commodity

plays? - looking again to see copper has not performed well here. that is kind of a china exposure play, so the weakness in china weighing on that, and also copper has normally been kind of the harbinger of economic growth - certainly not showing anything there. so, i think we will have to see copper head higher to have the market kind of head higher here. that divergence has gotten great. conversely, copper heading higher might hurt the home- builders slightly, but i don't see copper out of the gate sharply any time soon. - what are your favorite names in copper? - freeport-mcmoran certainly is the best way to play copper on kind of a large-scale basis. you have some of the south american companies that you can also play - vale would be one for copper - but those have a little currency translation risk in there. - thank you, tim. have a good trading day. - you bet. thanks angie. that's a wrap for now. coming up tomorrow in movies and money, why "42" hit it out of the park compared to other baseball films. from all of us at first business, thank you for watching.